How To Un-Blind a Blind Job Ad

It's so frustrating to read job ads -- as soon as you see an ad that looks halfway interesting, you read down to the bottom of it to learn that there's no company listed. It's a blind job ad. You have no choice then but to pitch a resume into a faceless Black Hole and wait for a response -- right?

No way -- you can un-blind that blind job ad at least three-quarters of the time! Here's how you do it.

Read through the job ad carefully, looking at every line. Look for a phrase that sounds less robotic and standard-job-ad-style than the rest of the ad. Standard phrases like "Results-oriented professional" and "We're looking for a motivated self-starter" are generic and won't help you un-blind the job ad. You're looking for a phrase that isn't quite so ubiquitous. You're  likely to find it in the employer's brief description of its own business, the little bit they give you just to get you interested without giving away too much information.

Here's an example:

"We're a Chicago-based publisher of Christian poetry." That phrase is all you need. Cut and paste that signature phrase into a Google search box with quotation marks at the front and back of the phrase to keep it intact during the search. You're very likely to come up with the same phrase repeated in other places (from other job ads, for instance) and on the company's own website. This is language they use to describe themselves, so they use the same terms over and over. Eureka! You've  un-blinded the job ad.

Now you can jump on the company's website and LinkedIn to find your own hiring manager and send him or her a pithy Pain Letter, right at his or her desk. Who needs a Black Hole recruiting portal when you can go direct to the source?

Try this un-blinding technique and leave us a comment to tell us how it worked for you!